CoD 1: Session 04: Wake up at sword point

 Pre-scene Notes

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Scene setup/conflict: 

Don’t know where they’ve landed, woke up at sword point

No altered/interrupted scene

Scene:

Party woke up on a beach, but by who appeared to be a group of guards. Stella was nowhere to be seen, to Filli’s worry. When the party tried to explain, the guards found it preposterous that a government sanctioned vessel would try and eat its passengers. The other guards said it might be one of Rose’s vessels. They were ultimately convinced by Filli (rustic hospitality background feature) and Zar (persuasion roll+being a half-orc) so the party were brought without shackles to see the Governor. 

Guards led the party north through the fields, and they spotted Cavesmuth. A sparing few huts and houses, some tents, all in front of a large cliff face. There were two large structures atop the cliffs though, almost opposing each other on two sides of the settlement. They appeared to be estates, with the blue estate having many tents around it.

Filli tried to talk to the guards, but they were well-trained and well-equipped, keeping a close eye on their prisoners and stayed silent (CHA roll failed). They arrived at the settlement’s edge and firstly entered an area of far-between manors and a dirt road, then a stone road that led up the east side of the cliff to the blue estate. The estate however had no gardening, but instead, barracks and other solider-like tents and temporary stables littered its grounds. The manor structure was as expected though of an aristocratic home, but the design had more of a keep/castle design with large military-grade stones. Stern guards patrolled the area, and scouts ran in and out of the manor with messages.

Looking back, the estates gave a great vantage point of Cavesmuth: a wide centre stone-paved road ran from the cliffs to the docks to the south. Other paths were mostly dirt still,  but clearly the wealthy lived on the east compared to the shambles to the west. Smoke signalled industry was to the west also. A red manor equivalent to the blue estates resided on the other side of the cliff but of more of a privatised design.

I did not want to note down a town description when playing through, but I had figured as a GM, even with the the map, it was good to describe the scene. Especially as this is the main hub for the campaign, I had thought this was necessary. As an author, this was mandatory without visual aids, but during the edits, the language would likely need to be covered up so it was not as blatant on things like where the wealthy/poor lived etc.

The guards led you into the manor after some checks at the entrance, luckily the party deemed harmless enough to keep their inventory. The interior of the building was lavishly spacious and some decorations looked expensive, but the bare stone made it felt more like a fortification. The armour and swords hanging about were not ornate, but more for storage and easy access. 

I could not find an apt map for the manor, and considering I did not even necessary need one at this stage, I had came across a cool looking study, so used it instead. As a GM, this would be the same, as looking or creating maps could be very time consuming. This was a clear example of when one should not prepare too much when it was not required immediately. 

The guards did not wander and going up the grand staircase, the party were led into a long study. In front of the tall stained glass windows sat a young man in a fitted plate mail. Stairs on either sides led to tall bookcases, though still mostly empty. The passage towards the big desk where the man sat were littered with armaments or scrolls. 

Map from EightfoldPaper

The young governor had short cropped brown hair and slants of cat eyes. There were red under-cape and leather garments, but the plate mail he donned was clearly magical and rare. He seemed to be built for strength, but something in his lion’s eyes betrayed him so he could never play the dumb hothead. He looked up from his field reports to see the guards and asked himself instead of relying on the assistant next to him, cutting off everyone to speak first. 

Portrait of Osran from Pinterest

“Yes, your reports came ahead of you.” the young governor asked, “What’s the name of the vessel and this captain you speak who tried to eat you?”

Filli just remembered the vessel name. The Blue Horizon. (mediocre history rolls from all three PCs)

“Doesn’t ring a bell as one of our vessels. It must be a merchant one chartered by the Roses. Foolish women, what good is trying to get adventurers here if they die on the way. And the fog? It is certainly unnatural for fogs of such nature to prolong for days. Was there anything unnatural you noticed about it?”

Party did not know more. (very low rolls from all three PCs)

“No matter, it is not your job to find the cause. Listen well. I am governor Osran Banquo of Cavesmuth, decreed by the Capitol to oversee all matters on this island. As you have learnt from the flyer, the main objective of the Empire is to explore the Cave of Dreams, but we have many things to establish in this early phase of settlement to make it a streamline process. Please, don’t consider yourselves under employ under the Empire or myself, those are the guards. I believe adventurers prioritise freedom most of all, and the Empire have no need for mundane treasures or items, they are yours to keep. If you do happen upon mystical and rare items however when you explore the Cave of Dreams, like this sword for example, the Empire will pay a fair price for them. This sword was captured by one of the initial adventurers of the Cave, and fetched a hefty one thousand gold for it, you can collaborate it with anyone. If gold isn’t in your favour, at this stage, the Empire still wants to know more about the workings of this mysterious cave. If you are able to bring back any information from the worlds you’ve travelled in your Cave dives, you may also make a name for yourself in the Capitol as a scholar or explorer. Hey, you may even get tenure at one of the universities if that is your wish. What I’m trying to explain is that the Cave of Dreams is such, you may realise your dreams, whatever it may be. Don’t waste the opportunity.”

“I think that’s good enough of a welcome to compensate for your horrible journey here. Other adventurers don’t even get the chance to see me. And after all, this is just the fault of the Roses. But at least, let my guards show you the way to the taverns. Almost all adventurers live there between trips into the Cave, and if you need further guidance just ask at the Governor’s office at the Town Square. Remember, any rarities, go to my offices - NOT the Trade House.”

Filli asked who were the Roses. This clearly displeased Banquo. Weird Elf tried to save the meeting by saying they might want compensation from them, which placated him a bit.

“You will no doubt hear of them in your time here, like their eyesore across the cliff. Although I am the official governor here, the Empire is all for free trade, especially some old bones in the Capitol as long as it fills their own coffers. The Rose family runs the Trade House and has too much of a stake on the commercial side of things here. They deal in mundane civilian necessities, like food and raw materials for those in the Trades Hub, but also tries to incentivise the adventurers to sell their treasures to them instead of the official government channels. I don’t mind them dealing in healing potions or sleeping draughts, but when they deal in rare magical artefacts for an old duke’s collection instead of saving lives in the front lines of a battlefield, that’s almost criminal. If you have any ambitions to be any type of mover and shaker in this town, or indeed the Empire, sticking with official channels is the way to go.”

“Even to start a church for Xanthia?” Weird Elf asked and elaborated on why he was here.

Banquo considered this, looking at his second standing behind him. His second was also in  a fitted plate mail, older than the governor, but held a strange grey colour to his skin. He leaned in and whispered something. 

Banquo nodded and said, “Prove yourself, inside the Cave of Dreams or otherwise. There’re many tasks the Governor’s Office advertise, whether it is for the expansion of the town or request of certain items or information within the Cave. If you prove yourself competent, then a church is definitely within reason for me to consider. After all, it only benefits the Empire to concentrate the spirituality of its citizens, especially the many adventurers here.”

Filli asked, “Why especially adventurers?”

“Pardon me saying, but adventurers are mostly a chaotic bunch. Having more of them under one banner, regardless of name, means their output will fall under one basket instead of falling into a rosebush. If the Empire were waving that banner, then so does the basket.”

Weird Elf pondered on the Governor words. (I considered this would be when a player would  request a clarification check. He got a nat 20 in a Religion check) Yankovic knew all too well in some villages, the church ruled almost in place of the Empire, but in others, the church was just a front. This was the same for all deities as the Empire was polytheistic. Mostly, the two came to a sort of arrangement collaboratively, but in some places they even fought each other. Yankovic therefore understood the metaphor fully: the Governor would not mind sponsoring a church at all, and even encouraging adventurers to follow Xanthia as this settlement’s official deity, as long as that meant those adventurers could unite for the good of the Governor/Empire instead of working for the Roses. 

His grey-skinned second whispered in Banquo’s ear again and he nodded, “This is all we have time for today. I do hope I’ll hear from you again and you are indeed the ferocious adventurers we’ve advertised for. Good day.”

#

Two guards led the party down the east cliff towards the town square, where many tents and stalls were peddling goods and whatnot. During the way, Filli tried to make conversation with the guards again, this time succeeding considering their backstories and intentions were now known(CHA roll 17). The guards told the party a bit more about the town.

There were some shops, but not all were fully constructed, therefore it would be more likely the party could buy goods they needed at the stalls in Town Square. For blacksmiths or other specialist orders, the Trades Quarters would be the place to go. The nobles quarters were residential and probably had nothing of interests, but the main street had jewellery and magic artefact shops that might be of interest to a man with a brimming purse. The party could always rely on Dockers at the Docks to get a bit of gambling and gallivanting done. All quarters were still getting built out at the moment, but outer zones like where they were found on the beach this morning, were very much just wilderness. The governor arranged some patrols to ensure the safety of the settlement, but not even the whole island had been explored yet, especially inland. At this point of the settlement’s developments, the Governor’s Office and Trade House almost duplicated in function in being a sort of adventurer's hall for requests or missions. The Governor’s Office had more requests related to town expansion if the party did not fancy the Cave. 

On the way, north of the Town Square, they saw the famous Cave of Dreams for the first time. It was like any other cave in the cliff wall, but as one tried to stare in, a heavy fog  would obscure any further enquiries into what laid ahead. A crane hung over the cave’s mouth, mounted from the top off the cliffs. The guards lamented the time they needed to lift and transfer a massive dinosaur corpse out of the Cave. They butchered it at the Town Square, all of the townsfolk had a great meal, and then the rest were dragged towards the docks down the high street. Not everyone came back with a bounty though, and the guards mentioned sometimes the Cave was called Cave of Greed, as adventurers’ greed made them venture in again and again. The one that brought out the dinosaur never came back from his next trip in. The guards reckoned if he had just accompanied the dinosaur corpse back to the continent, he could have retired to a cushy life now instead of getting lost in who-knew-where. 

The guards took the party to the front of the tavern and said they had to go back to patrolling, and left at the entrance of the Cliff’s Edge Tavern. The tavern looked to have been built right from within the cliff, sinking into it and only having a large entrance way at the face. 

Scene close-out:

• Chaos factor down to 5 and still I haven’t got to the Cave mechanics yet. As aforementioned, I was having trouble splitting scenes, but considering the setting conflict (eg woke up a sword point) was fully resolved, this should be the end of the scene. 
• - party thread: No longer stranded at sea
• + party thread: Investigate mystery behind fog from initial journey
• + character thread: Yankovic needs to build up reputation first before he could start a church here.
• + character thread: Filli wants to find Stella to see she was ok

 

Post-scene Notes

Basically everyone who has anything to do with DND has talked about the new OGL the company is trying to 'update'. Considering the original OGL had been around for decades, I don't think I have much rights as a relatively new player to comment,  and it will lead me down a rabbit hole of rants about how capitalism is evolving to an ugly end of its role as the dominate system like many before it, but I am with the majority of people out there. In the most basic sense, the company want to go back on their word because of money, and that's the bottom line. Thanks again for reading.